Ex-India hot dip galvanized (HDG) coil prices have edged up over the past week, contrary to initial market expectations but based on hopes of an improvement in flat product prices in producing countries and of a demand uptick in Europe after the holidays, SteelOrbis learned from trade and industry circles on Thursday.
Ex-India HDG (Z120) prices have increased by $10-15/mt to the range of $695-715/mt FOB, with offers submitted to Europe heard to be at higher levels over $700/mt FOB.
However, the efficacy of this pricing strategy could not be clearly ascertained in the market as buyers in the Middle East have cited weak demand, while in Europe distributors are reported to be deferring their response to offers due to the summer holidays.
“Hiking ex-India prices is counter-intuitive. Expectations were that Indian mills would attempt to improve their competitiveness by lowering the price at a time when mills in Europe were attempting to push up local prices. Such export pricing would have held the potential to revive interest in imports from the buyers’ side. But exporters are attempting margin maximization over higher sales volumes,” a representative of one Indian mill said.
“Our assessment is sellers will remain neutral on the export front in the current quarter. The higher pricing is focused on the next quarter (October-December) bookings,” he added.